Professional Development 3
Introduction
I have had a golden chance of my pursuing my chosen course of Civil Engineering at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Portsmouth. I have learned a lot this far in line with the ICE Development Objectives (Dos). However, my professional experience to date has areas of weakness or shortcomings.
Strengths
The civil engineering curriculum is broad enough translating that I have been a recipient of broad experience from topics spanning from water resources management to transportation as well as construction. Thanks to a specialization-emphasizing curriculum, I have gained in-depth knowledge and training in core areas like construction scheduling and traffic management. Material courses in construction have enabled me to develop expertise in working with concrete and pavement design besides learning strength of wood structures, steel and iron. The traffic engineering course has well positioned me in capacity to work in a highway department. I am able to maintain traffic flow to the best, understand the impact of different work on traffic, pedestrian issues, level of service, among other aspects.
Weaknesses
One of the major shortcomings relates to the nature of civil engineering education which has characteristic disciplinary boundaries coupled with course unit requirements that have limited my opportunities to interact with fellow students other related-disciplines such as architecture, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering (ASCE, 2008). As I have to learn, this traditional classroom model significantly clashes with the interdisciplinary reality of the professional civil engineering world. The classroom situation has prepared me to employ over-simplified case studies to convey particular elements of a project such as a cost estimating situation or a structural problem. This has left me with insufficient comprehension of the civil engineering profession owing to the fact that the single-minded case studies have the inadequacy of highlighting the many interdisciplinary forces that influence problem solutions.
Through use of artificial problems in the case studies, I have come to be accustomed to the screwed perspective that projects are but a collection of individual members responsible for make independent making decisions on key project factors such as structural concepts, schedules, or environmental hazards. In this respect, I am still insufficient in appreciating contributory elements such as financial factors like future return on investment and economic viability, or regulatory factors e.g. permitting and environmental effect requirements.
Another major shortcoming relates to working hours. While as a student I have been under the notion that I would work from nine to five (as convinced by my lecturers), things are quite different in the world. It is my understanding that employed civil engineers get to work overtime most of the time, in excess of 40 hours a week. This is a fact that I have established in the few working opportunities I have been able to land during holiday breaks, coop programs, and summer internship programs.
My other shortcoming this far has to be engineering skills. While technical writing is often overlooked in civil engineering courses, the work environment entails much writing, communication especially on construction projects. These include unprecedented incidences that are common in the course of a civil engineering project, where field personnel have to describe to the chief engineer in the office.
Intervention Plan
To mediate the shortcomings in the next 12 months, there are a number of specific interventions that can be adopted. First, there is need to reduce the disciplinary boundaries by adopting interdisciplinary course purposed at development of civil engineering case studies (integrating group projects and field work). This will enable me to learn with other students drawn from other disciplines, be able to coordinate multifaceted problems, in addition to addressing unique problem by attaining information from varied subject areas. Further, case studies need to be used as supporting elements in the overall educational environment as opposed to being the singular educational tools in civil engineering (ASCE, 2008).
In addition, I shall have to significantly boost my communication skills (both written and oral). Given that small civil programs often have limited technical writing resources, instructors will do well to integrate more writing assignments into the current course syllabi.
References:
American Society of Civil Engineers, Body of Knowledge Committee. (2008). Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge for the 21st Century: Preparing the Civil Engineer for the Future. United States: ASCE Publications.
